The effects of the QCD critical point on the spectra and flow coefficients of hadrons

TL;DR

This study uses relativistic viscous hydrodynamics to investigate how the QCD critical point influences hadron spectra and flow in heavy-ion collisions, finding that the overall effects are largely washed out over the fireball's evolution.

Contribution

A numerical (3+1)-D viscous hydrodynamics code incorporating the QCD critical point effects into the equation of state and transport coefficients.

Findings

CP effects are largely obliterated in integrated spectra and flow.

Hydrodynamic modeling with CP can simulate heavy-ion collision observables.

The study provides insights into the detectability of the QCD critical point.

Abstract

The space-time evolution of the hot and dense fireball of quarks and gluons produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at non-zero baryonic chemical potential and temperature has been studied by using relativistic viscous causal hydrodynamics. For this purpose a numerical code has been developed to solve the relativistic viscous causal hydrodynamics in (3+1)-dimensions with the inclusion of QCD critical point (CP) through the equation of state and scaling behaviour of the transport coefficients. We have evaluated the transverse momentum spectra, directed and elliptic flow coefficients of pions and protons to comprehend the effect of CP on these observables by using this code. It is found that the integration over the entire space-time history of the fireball largely obliterates the effects of CP on the spectra and flow coefficients.